| 25.08.2005
August 18, 2005
Senator Richard G. Lugar
Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee
Hart Senate Office Building, Room 306
Re: Release of Libyan Prisoners
Dear Senator Lugar:
The American Libyan Freedom Alliance (ALFA) is a nonprofit
American organization, registered in the State of Virginia.
It was founded for the promotion of democracy, human rights,
justice, accountability and the rule of law, in Libya. Since
ALFA’s founding, we have met with Senators, Congressmen,
and officials in the Department of State, to share our concerns
about the oppressive military regime in our old country.
Today, August 18, I learned from a press release that
you were planning a visit to North Africa, including a visit
to Libya. I called your office to ask about the time of
your visit, and I was told that you were in Algeria yesterday,
August 17, and currently you are in Morocco en-route to
Libya for a meeting with high officials in that country.
Although we have missed the opportunity to meet with you
prior to your visit, I hope we are not too late to communicate
to you an important message, of concern to us and our many
friends and families back in Libya.
I understand that you are on a noble mission to arrange
for the release of 400 Moroccan prisoners in Algeria, who
were captured by Algerian Forces during the Western Sahara
conflict. While we wish you success in your mission, we
urge you to undertake a similar mission of mercy in Libya,
and to urge Gadhafi to release the thousands of Libyan prisoners,
jailed without ever having committed or charged with any
crime. Also, we ask you to raise the issue of improving
his record on Human Rights, which was set as a precondition
for improved US-Libya ties.
You might be in time to witness the lavish preparations
for celebrations in Tripoli on the occasion of the 37th
anniversary of the military coup that brought Gadhafi to
power, an apt question: When does he plan to hold elections
in Libya? All Libyans will be eagerly awaiting an answer.
While we wish success in your mission of freeing those imprisoned,
we urge you to raise the aforementioned concerns with Libyan
officials, particularly Gadhafi, the only authority in Libya.
Sincerely,
Mohamed M. Bugaighis, Ph.D.
Chairman, American Libyan Freedom Alliance (ALFA)
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